The article repeated-text fixture has 11,000 bytes, gzip content has 122 bytes, and decoding recovers the same 11,000 bytes. Counts are content bytes only, not a benchmark.

Compression negotiation is content negotiation

HTTP compression selects a coded representation, not a new media type. Gzipped text remains text after decompression. A useful check therefore asks three questions: was the coding acceptable, did the transfer become smaller, and did decoding recover the intended bytes? A compression checkbox or a successful status code cannot answer all three. ...

July 21, 2026 · 5 min · XB Field Notes